Toyota Production System

We have all seen the successful rise of the Japanese manufacturing companies over the last several decades, especially in the automotive and electronics manufacturing sectors. So why has this system, developed by Toyota Motors, been so successful? The main philosophies, cultural values and overall process of the Toyota Production System (TPS) are what have driven its worldwide notoriety. Following are some of the main philosophies of the Toyota Production System that make it so universally successful, regardless of what industry you are in.

Toyota Production System Philosophy

Having a long-term philosophy that drives a long-term approach to building a learning organization

Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of shorter financial goals

The right process will produce the right result

Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface. Use constraint management to tackle the biggest to smallest issues in order of impact.

Use the "pull" systems to avoid overproduction. This will help uncover issues in your manufacturing process, rather than masking it with piles of overproduced product at each station.

Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time. Empower everyone to stop production of non-compliant material (NCM) parts.

Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment. Standardization breeds efficiency at all levels of the operations.

Use visual control so no problems are hidden. Visual indicators can create a fast and easy way to take the pulse of the operation at all levels without requesting time consuming charts and data sheets to be compiled.

Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes

Add value to the organization by developing its people and partners

Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy, and teach it to others

Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company's philosophy

Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve.

Continuously solving root problems to drive organizational learning

Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation. Manage by walking around your operations rather than sitting in your office and expecting things to change.

Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly. Once you have proven that changes need to happen, execute as quickly as possible so you can take full advantage of the benefits of your decision.

Reduction of Waste

Reducing Waste in all aspects of your operations is key to maintaining the edge needed to compete in the global economy. The Toyota Production System teaches that waste, “muda” is one of the evils that should be avoided. Following are some examples of ways to reduce waste.

Reduce Setup Times - All setup practices are wasteful because they add no value and they tie up labor and equipment. By organizing procedures, using carts, and training workers to do their own setups, Toyota managed to slash setup times from months to hours and sometimes even minutes.

Small-Lot Production - Producing things in large batches results in huge setup costs, high capital cost of high-speed dedicated machinery, larger inventories, extended lead times, and larger defect costs. Because Toyota has found the way to make setups short and inexpensive, it became possible for them to economically produce a variety of things in small quantities.

Employee Involvement and Empowerment - Toyota organized their workers by forming teams and gave them the responsibility and training to do many specialized tasks. Teams are also given responsibility for housekeeping and minor equipment repair. Each team has a leader who also works as one of them on the line.

Quality at the Source - To eliminate product defects, they must be discovered and corrected as soon as possible. Since workers are in the best position to discover a defect and to immediately fix it, they are assigned this responsibility. If a defect cannot be readily fixed, any worker can halt the entire line by pulling a cord (called Jidoka).

Equipment Maintenance - Toyota operators are assigned primary responsibility for basic maintenance since they are in the best position to detect signs of malfunctions. Maintenance specialists diagnose and fix only complex problems, improve the performance of equipment, and train workers in maintenance.

Pull Production - To reduce inventory holding costs and lead times, Toyota developed the pull production method wherein the quantity of work performed at each stage of the process is dictated solely by demand for materials from the immediate next stage. The Kanban scheme coordinates the flow of small containers of materials between stages. This is where the term Just-in-Time (JIT) originated.

Supplier Involvement - Toyota treats its suppliers as partners, as integral elements of Toyota Production System (TPS). Suppliers are trained in ways to reduce setup times, inventories, defects, machine breakdowns etc., and take responsibility to deliver their best possible parts.

Corporate Culture

Culture refers to an organization’s values, beliefs, and behaviors. Firms with strong cultures achieve higher results because employees sustain focus both on what to do and how to do it and are supported from the corporate hierarchy. Culturally, the main focus in a lean manufacturing company that follows the TPS methods is called Kiazen, or Continuous Improvement. The culture of continuous improvement needs to be so engrained that each employee is self motivated to look for ways to improve those processes or functions that affect the company’s ability to remain strong and progressive. Kaizen efforts should focus on not only improving all aspects of the company but also on the elimination of waste as described above.

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